Simon Mignolet: "On to the next match."
"We didn’t start well today, and you know that it will be tough at Stayen if that happens. We made things unnecessarily difficult for ourselves. We had chances to score the equalizer quickly, but we couldn't score. For the opening goal, I anticipated a cross, and then Lamkel Ze struck the ball like that. It’s incredibly frustrating to concede a goal like that. Now we have to pick ourselves up quickly and focus on the next match."
Coach Nicky Hayen: "We lose two points here."
Club Brugge fell behind by two goals in the first half but still managed to take one point home thanks to a goal in extra time. However, after the match, coach Hayen was disappointed. "I'm absolutely not going home with a good feeling," started the coach of the Blues his analysis. "We lost two points here, and we have to be honest about that. In the first half, they outplayed us in terms of intensity and mentality. We had warned about this beforehand because I’ve played here myself and know what it’s like. Then you fall 2-0 behind, and you have to show a reaction, which we did in the second half. I think we created enough chances over the entire match to possibly even win, but the first half simply wasn’t good enough. We had to respond, and we did, but we should have done that from the first second." There had been prior warnings about STVV’s counterattacks. "Absolutely, and the way we switched play ourselves was just too slowly and not sharp enough. It’s frustrating to see, and we need to work on that. It happens too often after a Champions League match, and we still haven’t found the best solution. In the end, you feel 'relieved' to take one point home, but we actually lost two points today."
On Tuesday, the return leg against Atalanta awaits. "To play in the Champions League, you also have to perform in the league and win the championship. That’s a message we want to repeat every day because we are unnecessarily dropping points against teams like STVV, Kortrijk, etc. In theory, that shouldn’t happen. Of course, you might drop points now and then, but it’s been happening too often recently," concluded a disappointed Nicky Hayen.
Christos Tzolis: “We started too poorly.“
With his first goal of the 2025 calendar year, Christos Tzolis, who came in at halftime, managed to salvage a point for Club Brugge in the difficult away game against STVV. However, after the match, he didn’t seem completely satisfied: "We started the game way too poorly, and quite early in the match, we found ourselves trailing by two goals. Given the circumstances, we have to be happy with that one point at the end," said the Greek player in his initial reaction. "It was certainly not our best performance, but even then, we should, in theory, always take the three points home. Yet again, we were surprised too easily, and it feels like we are constantly walking a tightrope. On the one hand, you have to push forward in attack, but on the other, you also have to stay alert at the back for their quick and dangerous counterattacks. This is yet another case of unnecessary dropped points, and now we are eight points behind league leaders Genk." When it was pointed out that he enjoys scoring against STVV, Tzolis responded with a modest smile: "In the first match against them, I scored four goals, and tonight I managed to score again. But that’s just a small detail because, in the end, I want to score against any opponent. Hopefully, I can do it against Atalanta as well."